Benefits of New Drug Treatment for Bipolar Disorder
Health Media Ltd - July 01, 2002

Bipolar disorder is a complex mental illness affecting more than 1 per cent of the UK population. Current drug treatments, such as mood stabilisers and antidepressants, may worsen the condition, and new drug therapies with minimal side effects are urgently sought. Olanzapine is a thiobenzodiazepine drug that has previously been used in the treatment of psychotic disorders. It has recently been approved by both the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products and the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of bipolar disorder. Dr Mauricio Tohen and colleagues carried out a three-week, randomised, double-blind clinical trial to compare the efficacy of the atypical antipsychotic olanzapine (5-20mg/day) with another drug commonly used to treat bipolar disorder, called divalproex (500-2,500mg/day). The Young Mania Rating Scale and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale were used to measure manic and depressive symptoms, respectively. Patients treated with olanzapine (n=125) had significantly greater mean improvement of mania ratings compared with the group treated with divalproex (n=123). Furthermore, a larger percentage of patients went into disease remission with improved clinical responses following olanzapine treatment. Although there were more reported cases of adverse side effects with olanzapine, including weight gain, dry mouth, increased appetite and somnolence, the divalproex-treated group showed more cases of nausea. The US team suggest that, although olanzapine seemed to offer the best outcome for patients with bipolar disorder, the treatment used should depend not only on safety and efficacy issues, but also on patient-specific considerations. Reference: Tohen et al, American Journal of Psychiatry 2002;159:1011-1017

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Last updated: 07/23/2002 - 07:37 AM